TORONTO Oct 7 Canadian online gambling company
Amaya Inc has received strong interest from
strategic players and some private equity firms, according to
two sources familiar with the situation.

Several bids have come in, and suitors include British
bookmaker William Hill Plc and GVC Holdings Plc,
a sports betting and gaming company based in the Isle of Man,
the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the
talks are not public. They spoke this week and last week.

Meanwhile, former Amaya Chief Executive David Baazov,
subject of an insider trading investigation from Quebec's
securities regulator, has finally abandoned plans to bid for the
company, the sources said. Amaya said in February it received a
nonbinding proposal from Baazov to take the company private, but
the formal bid never came.

The bids for the operator of online gambling website
PokerStars are above Baazov's planned offer price of C$21 per
share, the sources said.

Amaya's shares were trading at C$21.48 in Toronto on Friday,
giving it a market capitalization of about C$3.1 billion ($2.34
billion).

The board's special committee "has not made a determination
as to whether a transaction of any kind is in the best interests
of the company at this time and will continue its review of
alternatives," Amaya spokesman Eric Hollreiser said.

William Hill declined comment. GVC did not respond to
requests for comment.

Baazov had prepared a bid but waited to sort out issues with
the securities regulator before submitting it, the sources said.
He was mulling a bid as recently as the summer, they said.

In August, Baazov resigned as chief executive. Amaya named
Rafi Ashkenazi as his replacement.

William Hill, itself a subject of an approach from 888
Holdings and Rank Group, rejected a revised takeover bid from
the two rivals in August.

Amaya paid $4.9 billion to acquire the owner and operator of
the PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker brands in 2014, saying at the
time that the deal created the largest publicly traded online
gaming company.

The company's biggest revenue contributions are from the
Isle of Man and Malta, while it has also recently expanded into
France, Italy, Spain and Britain, and expects to soon gain
regulatory approval to operate in the Czech Republic and the
Netherlands. It sees its biggest growth opportunity in the
United States.

After a lengthy approval process, Amaya won permission to
operate PokerStars in New Jersey, one of the first U.S. states
to legalize the business.

The company last year limited the operations of its
StarsDraft fantasy sports business in most U.S. states as a
string of jurisdictions grapple with whether the fast-growing,
multibillion-dollar industry constitutes illegal gambling.
$1 = 1.3256 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by John Tilak and Alastair Sharp in Toronto, and
Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Trending Stories

Sponsored Topics

Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: